11 Celebs Who Appeared Alongside Their SNL Impersonators

Find out what happened when these stars met their impersonators…

Miley Cyrus was just a teenager when Vanessa Bayer began portraying her in a recurring skit called The Miley Cyrus Show. Not only did Miley enjoy the sketch but she also was down to appear on SNL alongside Vanessa while she was in character. On one occasion, Miley joined The Miley Cyrus Show while dressed up like Justin Bieber — and on another episode, she appeared as herself in her iconic teddy bear bodysuit.

Jennifer Aniston has been impersonated through the years on SNL, most famously by Vanessa Bayer, who often played Jennifer’s Friends character Rachel. While Jennifer has said that she found the whole thing funny, when she appeared on Weekend Update alongside Vanessa, she poked fun at Vanessa’s impersonation. In the end, the duo shared a plate of nachos while bickering about how to best replicate Jennifer’s voice.

Nicolas Cage was impersonated by Andy Samberg on a recurring bit on Weekend Update called “Get in the Cage.” In the hilarious skit, Andy portrayed a very exaggerated version of Nic, in which he interviewed various real celebrities about their projects. After the bit really took off, Andy and Seth Meyers were able to convince the real Nic to appear on the show.

“It was not even remotely like Nic Cage. It was just a lunatic person that we called Nic Cage. To his enormous credit, he recognized that and thought that was funny and came on SNL and we did it as twin Nic Cages,” Andy recalled at a Writers Guild Foundation event.

He continued, “We had to go into his dressing room with the script. There was no sense that he had seen it. We definitely had sent it. He definitely had not looked at it. But we had included in the scripts him explaining that this was not a good impression of him. We were admitting that to him and also allowing him to say on air that it was unfair…He was very quiet, but ready to act…Then it finished and he was like, ‘OK.’ We walked out and skipped down the hallway, we were so excited.”

In one of the most popular recurring bits on SNL, Mick Jagger came face-to-face in a mirror with his impersonator, Jimmy Fallon. The two had a hilarious back-and-forth about what Mick planned to do as the show’s host — but Jimmy says producer Lorne Michaels actually didn’t want them to do the reflection in the mirror bit.

“Lorne was like, ‘Please don’t do the reflection in the mirror bit.’ And I go, ‘Why?’ He’s like, ‘It’s just been done.’ He’s like, ‘Lucille Ball did it. The Marx Brothers. Just don’t do it.’ I go, ‘Okay.’” Jimmy shared on The Tonight Show.

He continued, “So I’m going through the list. I probably have 10 ideas. And the last one — [Mick] doesn’t like anything. And then the last one I go, ‘Maybe it’s like you’re back and you’re in the dressing room. You’re like, ‘Why am I doing this show? I’ve done it in the ’70s and done it in the ’80s. What am I doing different now?’ And I’m your reflection.’ He goes, ‘I like that.’”

Rami Malek took on SNL hosting duties in 2021, and in one skit, he ended up trading places with cast member Pete Davidson. In a skit called Celeb School Game Show, Pete impersonated Rami — and Rami actually took on the role of Pete. The pair traded insults throughout the skit, with Pete accusing Rami of staring at him the whole time!

During the recent SNL50 celebration, former cast members Tracy Morgan and Eddie Murphy made an appearance. In honor of the major milestone, the show brought back the iconic Black Jeopardy skit during which Tracy portrayed a contestant — and Eddie impersonated Tracy. During the skit, they even hilariously joked that they might be related. The skit also included guest appearances from Tom Hanks and Chris Rock.

Back in 2013, Dave Matthews made a guest appearance on a skit called The Mellow Show. The talk show was hosted by Jack Johnson, who was impersonated by Andy Samberg. Bill Hader joined the show as Dave — and then Dave himself also joined in on the fun. But instead of playing himself, Dave hilariously took on the role of Ozzy Osbourne.

In 2012, cast member Abby Elliott had a recurring skit where she hosted a talk show called Bein’ Quirky and impersonated Zooey Deschanel. When Zooey hosted SNL that year, she made an appearance on the sketch — but instead of portraying herself, she ended up playing Mary-Kate Olsen.

Back in 1999, Jerry Seinfeld hosted SNL and made an appearance on Weekend Update alongside his impersonator, cast member Jimmy Fallon. Not only did they come face-to-face, but the pair actually debated one another about The Gap. They ended up finding common ground in their distaste for vests.

For years, Will Ferrell took on the role of Alex Trebek on SNL’s parody of Jeopardy, and in 2002, Alex himself appeared on a special Rock ’N Roll Jeopardy skit. It happened to be Will’s final SNL episode as a cast member and was the perfect send-off. Before his passing, Alex expressed how much he loved the skits.

“I was on his last regular show, and I did a little cameo appearance, and yeah, I told him how much I enjoyed his work as me on the program, and he was quite taken that I had noticed,” Alex told The Hollywood Reporter in 2012. “Every [Jeopardy] taping, somebody in the audience says ‘How do you feel about the Will Ferrell impression of you on SNL?’ And I say the same thing every time: I love it. I wish he was back on the show so he would do more.”

While Alec Baldwin wasn’t ever a full SNL cast member, he’s hosted the show over 15 times. On several of those occasions, he impersonated Tony Bennett, and in 2006, Tony himself even joined in on the fun. During the sketch, Alec hosted The Tony Bennett Show while impersonating Tony — and the real Tony joined as a tribute artist named “Phony Bennett.”

“One of the greatest moments of my life was when Tony came on and played a Tony Bennett impersonator. We had a lot of fun,” Alec said on Late Show with David Letterman.